12 March, 2019
A British-led research team has sent its first live, television quality video transmission from a two-person submersible vehicle.
Team members entered two submersibles, which slowly went down into waters off the coast of the Seychelles on Tuesday. The aim of the project is to document changes taking place in the Indian Ocean.
Heavy seasonal storms and strong underwater currents continued to present problems at greater depths during the study.
Lucy Woodall, Nekton Mission principle scientist, left, and pilot Randy Holt inside a submersible 60 meters below surface of Indian Ocean during a descent into the Indian Ocean off Alphonse Atoll near the Seychelles, Tuesday March 12, 2019.
The AP used optical video techniques to transmit the pictures through the waves by using the blue part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Before now, real-time video transmissions from the world's deep oceans were livestreams. This means they were sent from unmanned subsea vehicles that were operated on land. The video was sent through fixed fiber-optic wiring.
The new transmission uses the latest wireless technology. The signal came from 60 meters down.
The Associated Press is the only news agency working with British scientists from the Nekton research team on its deep-sea project. The researchers hope to open up the secrets of the Indian Ocean, one of the world's least explored areas.
The team of scientists is gathering information to help policy-makers to create environmental protection measures.
Oliver Steeds is the director of the study. He said the experience of battling the waves shows the need to expand scientific knowledge of the waters off the Seychelles.
"The problem is, when it comes to this place, when it came to the currents, the most recent current records are from 1882," he said.
The study is expected to last seven weeks, until April 19.
I'm Susan Shand.
The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on 51VOA.COM.
_____________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
transmission – n. to send video or audio to another place
submersible – adj. an object covered with water, such as a submarine
optical – adj. involving the use of devices that get information for a computer by identifying patterns of light
spectrum – n. the group of colors that a ray of light can be separated into, such as the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet
livestreamed – v. to play in real time over the internet
fiber-optic – adj. the use of thin threads of glass or plastic to carry large amounts of information in the form of light signals